


Heartbreak

by Faith280



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-16 03:44:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 14,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17542046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faith280/pseuds/Faith280
Summary: Grif and Simmons have finally settled into a happy home life. No matter how crazy Grif has driven Simmons, he always forgave him. What would life really be without him? What would Simmons do if one day Grif couldn’t come back?





	1. 1

 

Chapter 1

  
“Hey Grif, you got a second? I need to ask you a favor.”

  
Grif groaned, so close. “What do you want Wash, I’m kinda in a hurry. I have to watch the kid so Simmons can work on his hydro garden…thing. He’ll be pissed if I’m late.”

  
“It’ll only take a second. Do you have anything planned for tomorrow morning?”

  
“Yeah, sleeping, I never miss it.”

  
Wash sighed, he should have known better. “Well in between your busy napping schedule I need you to run down some papers to President Kimball for me.”

  
“Why aren’t you taking them?”

  
“We have a new squad of recruits coming in and I have to handle orientation. So could you help me out?”

  
“Why don’t I handle the orientation until you get back. I am a Captain after all.”

  
Oh dear god, that’s all the newbies need. He’ll traumatize them into quitting on the first day.

“No offense, but you’re a terrible manager. You’ll show them too many bad habits that I’ll have to fix later.”

  
“And there is no one else at this base that could handle this?”

  
“Tucker is finishing your training mission, Sarge would be geared for a fight we don’t need, Donut is directionally challenged, and Caboose…well is Caboose. Do you wonder why?”

  
Grif wasn’t giving up yet. “You know, this sounds perfect for Simmons.”

  
“No way, the baby’s not even a month old, he should still technically be on maternity leave. So here’s the papers. Just deliver them and go home. It’s an hour, there and back. You’ll still have plenty of nap time left. What could be easier?”

  
Staying home. “Fine, gimme them.” He sulked all the way home.

  
Walking through the door at home, his mood didn’t improve any. He was already twenty minutes late, baby Dex was crying and poor Simmons was trying everything to quiet him down. With the look on Simmons’ face, Grif knew he was in trouble. Uh-oh, here we go again.

  
“You’re late, where were you?”

  
“It’s not my fault, Wash kept me over. He’s dumb enough to think I can handle a delivery job tomorrow.”

  
“Oh so you’re skipping out on me for tomorrow too?”

  
“Skipping out on what?”

  
“I needed you to watch your son for a few hours so I can start back to working in the IT department.”

  
“So, hire a babysitter for a little while, Dex is getting old enough. And since when is he only my son. He acts more like you than me.”

Grif took ahold of the baby and he quieted right down.

  
Simmons sighed and shook his head. “He’s yours when he acts like this. And you know my rules, no babysitters, not yet.”

  
“Why not?”

  
“I have my reasons. You know I have issues with this. I don’t want someone else raising our kid.”

  
Grif didn’t even try to argue with his reasoning. He wouldn’t win anyway.

“Fine, whatever. Go to your garden thing, I’m here now. Me and the baby will hang out together.”

  
Simmons’ anger cooled down. He didn’t want Grif still thinking he was still mad at him.

“What did Wash want to deliver?”

  
“Some kind of papers to Kimball, I don’t know what they are for.” He showed the packet.

  
Simmons looked at them. Right away he recognized it. He wasn’t the least bit surprised Grif wouldn’t know what they were.

“These are the treaty transcripts with Zanzibar, Armada8, Iris, all the territories formerly under Space Pirate control. These documents allow them to join the New World Order. Wash worked really hard getting these, why the hell would he trust you with them?”

  
Grif shrugged. “Beats me. Apparently I was the only one available to deliver them… unless a certain ass kissing nerd would be willing to do it. The president will be there, it’s a perfect job for you.”

  
“Yeah sure, let me squeeze it into my already busy schedule. You can sit around all day and not have to do anything. It’s totally fair. This is an honor damnit, and you’re doing it.”

  
Grif rolled his eyes. Then he had a brainstorm idea. “What if we went together. We’ve hardly had anytime alone together in the last month. It could be like the old time missions we used to screw up.”

  
Simmons thought about it for a second. “It would be nice. We’ve been so busy lately… no, we got the baby to worry about. He’s too young to go and I can’t leave him with someone. Maybe when the next assignment comes up.”

  
Grif’s hopes dropped. He missed all the time he and Simmons hung out together. Even with all the arguing, they worked so well together. He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

  
“Yeah, I get it. I hoped we could make an afternoon of it. Take our time, have some dinner, you know just the two of us.”

  
Simmons felt so guilty. “I’m sorry Grif. I need some more time. I get so paranoid and I worry over everything. I promise, sometime soon, just the two of us.”

  
Grif looked doubtful. Simmons went over to him and put one around him and the other around the baby.

“What if I skip work and we can all hang out tonight. Will that do?”

  
Grif nodded and shot an evil grin. That was exactly what he could guilt trip Simmons into saying. Mission accomplished.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning at the Grif-Simmons household was chaotic. Simmons was trying to balance the baby on one arm while trying to pack Grif a lunch. Heaven help it if he misses a meal.

He was trying to avoid having to yell up to Grif if he was awake yet. He hated having to yell around the baby. He was already picking up so many bad habits as it was, mainly from Grif.

  
This was one time he couldn’t avoid yelling. “Grif, get up now! You’re going to be late and I don’t have time for your crap!”

  
Grif walked into the kitchen looking like a zombie. “Why this early, couldn’t I do an afternoon trip instead?”

  
“Sure, Kimball doesn’t have enough stuff going on, She can totally work around your sleeping schedule, dumbass.”

  
So rude. “No shit, I’m no stranger to sarcasm. I wish I was more awake, I’m more likely to crash the Warthog   
when I’m this tired.”

  
“You crash it all the time anyway, what were your excuses then?”

  
“Yet, everyone still insists that I drive the damn thing. You’d think you all would know better by now.”

  
“You’re not getting out of this, so stop whining and accept it.”

  
Grif stuck his tongue out at Simmons behind his back. Baby Dex saw it and laughed.

Grif gave him a thumbs up to encourage him, which was why his baby sitting privileges were always cut short. But at least he had a cool, nerdy kid.

  
Simmons was well aware of what they were up to. He tried not to laugh, but couldn’t completely hold it back. He was just relieved that for not wanting a kid in the first place, Grif was a good father.

  
He turned to the baby, “Thanks a lot, you traitor” Before giving him a kiss on the head. “As for you Grif, stop it and get ready. You’ll need full armor out there. The atmosphere isn’t very stable.”

  
He made a face, but he didn’t make any more complaints. In no time, he showed up with everything but his orange helmet.

He checked out his bagged lunch. He wasn’t too excited about it. Simmons packed it , how good could it be? Surprisingly, there was a peanut butter jelly sandwich.

His hopes dropped when he saw that there was only a ziplock with carrots and celery and an apple. What fun was that?

  
“What’s your problem?”

  
“This lunch, what’s up with this?”

  
“Peanut butter is your favorite, I thought you would like it.”

  
“What is this?” He held up the carrots like he was afraid of them.

  
“You need to eat healthier and they’re good for you. Eat it.”

  
“You’re so cruel. I’m leaving before it gets scarier. See ya later kiddo.”

  
When he put his helmet on to leave, the baby started crying. “Hey, what’s wrong Dex?”

  
“He’s never seen either of us in our armor, maybe he’s scared of it.”

  
He took off the helmet. “See buddy, it’s only me.”

The baby still cried and was reaching for Grif. That was weird, he wasn’t especially clingy like this. He knew by now that when Grif leaves, he would come back.

“Maybe he’s sick or something. I shouldn’t leave him like this.”

  
“No, you’re not using the baby to get out of work. I’m here with him, he’ll be fine.” Simmons tried to get ahold him, but he still wanted Grif.

  
Grif felt uneasy leaving, like something would happen. “All right, I’m going to rush, deliver the stupid papers and get back as soon as I can. Just text me in case something is wrong with him.”

  
“No kidding, you know I’m a constant worrier. He’s okay, he doesn’t have a fever, he’s probably just tired. The sooner you leave, the sooner he’ll settle down.”

  
Grif hesitated at the door. He took one last look, he had a bad feeling he would never see them again. It creeped him out, he had to get out of here.

  
Even when Grif was gone, baby Dex still cried. He kept looking at the door, waiting for Grif to come in.

Simmons tried talking to him, walking with him, and playing with him, but he kept on crying. Finally he wore himself out and fell asleep with his head on Simmons’ shoulder.

He held onto the baby, with the worst feeling that something bad really would happen to Grif.  
Why did he make him go?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
Two hours in, and Grif was only now just getting close to the Capital. He looked at his watch. Damn Wash lied. This isn’t a one hour trip, Simmons is gonna be pissed. I gotta call him once I deliver the papers. Gee, I hope the baby is okay, maybe I can talk to him when I call.

  
To keep his mind off his family, he focused on how freaking hot it was out, he was used to climate control in Chorus, it was always perfect.

He hadn’t worn this uniform in a while. He forgot how easily overheated he got in it.

  
He wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen, so when he drove past the broken down Jeep, he didn’t think anything of it. Unfortunately they were paying attention to him. When the explosion went off, Grif didn’t feel a thing.

  
He was thrown from the car and slammed into some rocks by the side of the road. He didn’t think he was dead. He couldn’t be sure, he couldn’t feel anything.

A figure stood over him. He never saw this person before. The armor was very similar to Wash’s, but the grey was a shade lighter.

  
A female’s voice spoke. “God damn you, you idiot. This isn’t even my brother.”

  
A second form appeared. He sounded afraid of her. “I’m sorry ma’am, this is the same vehicle we’ve been tracking. See, he has the treaty paper right here, that’s all we need. I did what you wanted, please don’t shoot me.”

  
“My brother was supposed to deliver these to Kimball, this idiot is of no use to me.”

  
“Your brother was the great Freelancer Washington, perhaps he was smart enough to send a decoy?”

  
“No way, he was mediocre at best, I was the real solider of the family. This had to be accidental.”

  
“What do I do with this guy?”

  
“Leave him. He’s badly injured, he won’t survive long enough to tell about us. Let’s get out of here.”

  
Grif’s mind raced. He tried desperately to reach his phone, but he couldn’t move. If he couldn’t get to help, he would die, how could anyone find him in time?

The numbness left his body and was replaced with excruciating pain. All he could do was call out Simmons’ name, then everything went dark.

Two hours passed. Dex woke up from his nap, he was still a little upset and kept looking towards the door.

He was sitting with his father listening to him read aloud from a picture book. Simmons felt it was never too early for Dex to start learning.

  
He finished the book and glanced at the clock . He had been watching the time like a hawk, he was still thinking about Grif. He had a terrible feeling. He tried to stay positive for the baby.

“Well, daddy should be home soon, what should we make for dinner?”

  
Dex reached toward a box of macaroni and cheese. God, Grif really has been teaching him.

“Yeah good choice, I don’t feel like cooking anything.”

  
Another half hour passed, still no Grif. Simmons had been paranoid, that now passed to full out worry. Grif would make fun of his needless worrying, but he had to check.

He pulled out his phone and called. It rang and rang. When it went to voice mail, Simmons knew. Something happened.

Grif always answered the phone, especially when he was worried over the baby. He had to figure out how to handle this.

  
He made a bag of essentials he needed for Dex and they both headed out. Carolina was the easiest to find.

If not active in battle, she was in the training room. There he found her, kicking the hell out of a punching bag. Usually, he was nervous around her. All the guys were, only little Dex didn’t know to be afraid of her.

Lately Simmons had found a new confidence; kind of a ‘dad mode’. His goal was to be a leader, and he had been growing into that position. He walked up to Carolina with confidence.

  
“Carolina, can you take a break for a moment, I may need your help.”

  
She stopped her workout and sighed loudly. “Not really, I’m busy here.”

She looked at the panic on his family, saw the worry in his eyes…Damnit, he had his kid here. Her voice toned down some. “All right, you one minute, start now.”

  
“I think something terrible happened to Grif.”

  
“Based on what, did you hear something?”

  
“No, that’s why I’m worried. He should have been back by now. He won’t answer his phone, he always does. The baby threw a fit when he left, and now this. I think something really happened to him.”

  
“That doesn’t mean anything, babies cry all the time. And you know Grif, he probably stopped off for a hotdog or something.”

  
“Normally I wouldn’t think anything of it, but he promised the baby he would be right home, he was worried he was getting sick. Grif would have no trouble lying to me, but he never would lie to his son. That’s how I know.”

  
“Okay, I’ll put together a small rescue mission and we’ll go out if he’s not back soon…”

  
“Shut up, you don’t get it, he’s out there somewhere needing help now. I’m going out to find him, with or without you.”

  
Carolina didn’t know how to take it. Normally she would just threaten to break his face. None of the guys ever had the guts to talk to her like that. Maybe they were real soldiers after all.

  
She flashed back to when she was eight. She had been told her mother wasn’t coming home. Who knew, maybe if someone had gone to help her sooner, she would still be alive.

She couldn’t let an innocent little baby lose his father the same way. He was a sweet kid, he deserved both his parents.

  
“Fine, I’ll suit up, you do the same and ditch the baby. We’ll go find Grif.”


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Simmons went to track down Wash. He had just finished up in the training room and was looking Simmons. The two almost ran into each other.

  
“Oh Simmons, I was looking for you. Did Grif get a late start or something this morning? I got a call from the Capital that the papers never showed up.”

  
“No he didn’t, that’s why I was looking for you. Something terrible must have happened, I can’t reach him on the phone.”

His eyes looked terrified. Simmons was known to often overreact, but this time he was serious.

  
“Damn, this is all my fault, I should have gone myself. I never should have sent him. Are you sure he wouldn’t have made a stop first? You know how he is about convenience stores, maybe he got a slushee.”

  
Simmons was always the first one to tease Grif about his addiction to junk food, that was part of Grif’s personality. But Wash and Carolina’s comments kind of irritated him.

He was allowed to make fun of Grif, but lately he’s gotten more protective of Grif’s feelings from others. The knew the comments hurt him more than he let on.

  
His face burned as he snapped at Wash. “No, Damnit. Why is that the first thing you all assume? He could be in danger out there, and I’m going to find him.”

  
Wash was mildly surprised. He knew Simmons had good leadership skills, but lacked the assertiveness to back it up. Did he talk to Carolina like that?

At least all of Wash’s training was good for something. He had gone from a cowardly nerd to a real solider. He was proud of him.

  
“Okay okay, I’m sorry. I feel responsible for this, I’ll go out with Carolina.”

  
“No way, I’m not sitting at home worrying anymore.” That stubborn determined look was back. He passed the baby over to Wash. “You’re the only one I trust him with.”

  
Wash liked little Dexter well enough, but he had no idea how to babysit an actual baby. He had enough trouble watching over the soldiers. Hey, maybe the baby would actually listen to him. Simmons thrust the baby’s bag to him.

  
“What do I do with all this…stuff?”

  
“It’s all common sense. If he’s hungry, feed him. There’s extra diapers to change him. If he gets bored give him a toy or read to him. He’ll be fine, if I’m overreacting, I’ll be back soon.”

  
Wash was already lost. Simmons looked on the verge of breaking down, so Wash pretended that he was okay. “We’re Fine here, go bring Grif home.”

  
With hearing Grif’s name and losing the security of holding his son, Simmons finally lost it. The tears flowed, he couldn’t hold them back anymore. Wash hoped Grif was okay, he wasn’t sure if Simmons could even survive without him.

  
He did calm down enough to say goodbye to the baby. He was trying to not upset him.He was already looking toward his dad so he could pick him up again.

“It’s all okay Dex, you stay here with Uncle Wash. I’ll be right back, I’m going to bring Daddy home for you.”

  
Little Dexter cried a little as he left, but he was determined to not look back. Looking at that little face crying for him would make Simmons cry even more. He was determined to not cry in front of Carolina, it would be too embarrassing.

  
While he suited up as quickly as he could, Carolina pulled up in a Warthog. Simmons couldn’t help remembering how Grif called it a Puma. Which made more sense, but Simmons would never admit it to him.

Since they knew Grif never made it to the Capital, the had a rough idea of where to search for him.

  
The conversation between Simmons and Carolina was strained. Simmons always had issues talking to women, it didn’t help when you were sitting beside one you were terrified of. Especially when you talked back to her and she let you live.

Carolina still had issues talking to people in general, how do you do small talk anyway? It was all so awkward.

  
Simmons broke the silence first. “You know, I’m surprised you agreed to go on this mission.”

  
“Why is that?”

  
“You and Grif have never really gotten along.”

  
She smiled a little. “I like Grif well enough, it’s just he’s usually a lazy pain in the ass.”

  
Simmons had to laugh. “I know right! Try having him for a roommate. I tried to defect to the Blue team twice to get away from him.”

  
“And yet, you’re still with him?”

  
“Yeah, the idiot grows on you, it just took me a while to realize it.”

  
“Anyway my real reason for helping wasn’t for Grif, it was for your son. My mother was killed in battle when I was a kid. She died before she could be taken to a hospital. If someone had stepped in and helped her, maybe she would still be alive. Your kid deserves to have both his parents.”

  
Simmons spoke quietly . “Oh god, I didn’t know that.”

  
“No one does, I don’t even think Wash knows about it.” She had to change the subject. “Keep your eyes peeled on that side, if he wrecked, we could come up on his Jeep at any moment.”

  
“Already checking it.” He had to ask the question he dreaded asking.

“Do you think we’ll even find him, especially alive?” The lump in his throat returned.

  
Even Carolina was quiet. “I hope so, I really hope so.”


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Simmons spotted the wreckage first. “Carolina, slow down, I think I got something over here.”

  
“Yeah, I see it too now. I’ll get us closer.”

  
The moment they were both dreading actually happened. It was a burned shell of a Jeep. The same kind that Grif headed out in. If he had been inside, he was gone for sure. Simmons’ heart pounded so hard, he thought it would break. Life without Grif… he would rather be dead.

  
Carolina did a careful check on the vehicle. “Relax, I don’t see any signs of a body. He must have gotten out somehow. I’ll check around.”

  
Simmons gave a small sigh of relief. But as soon as the words left Carolina’s mouth, she saw an orange crumpled form a few feet away, lying still; too still.

  
“Oh shit. Simmons, stay there. I don’t want you to see this, not yet.” She tried to grab ahold of his arm.

  
“Oh god, not Grif. No Carolina, let me go, I’m going to him.”

He tore his arm from her grip and roughly pushed her away, and ran to his husband’s body. All the years, all the memories, all the times he wanted to ring his neck…he couldn’t be gone.

  
He knelt down beside him and carefully pulled off the badly damaged helmet. He checked his neck for a pulse. It was very faint, but he was still alive. Without a doubt the helmet had saved his life, but his face was still badly damaged.

  
He had landed on his right side, it was all bruised and his eye was so swollen, he wouldn’t be able to open it. The left side was all cut up and bloody. Some small pieces of shrapnel were imbedded in his cheek.

“Oh god, who could have done this to you?”

  
He didn’t even hear Carolina come up behind him. “I radioed in our coordinates, a rescue chopper is on its way.”

  
He could only nod, he felt so numb with fear.

“It’s best to not move him until help comes.” He still didn’t say anything. “You know he’ll be okay. You guys have made it through worse times than this. If he survived an attack from The Meta, he can survive this.”

  
“Who could be responsible for this?”

  
“I don’t know, but I will find them. The peace treaty is nowhere in sight, I highly doubt that it burned in the fire. This was all a setup. I think poor Grif was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  
“I should have went with him like he asked me too.”

  
“It wouldn’t have made a difference, you both may have been killed. At least this way one of you can be there for your son. No matter what happens to Grif, you need to think about your son.”

  
“I know…” Simmons didn’t want to think about that, he couldn’t. He sat on the ground and gently held Grif’s head in his lap and held him and prayed help would come in time.

  
He had the feeling Grif could hear him. “I love you, don’t you dare leave me. Help’s coming, just hang on baby.”

  
Grif let out a faint groan, opened his eyes and looked up at Simmons for second before passing out again.

Simmons’ heart froze, why did he have the awful feeling that Grif would never open his eyes again?

  
“Carolina, I think I’m losing him! Where the hell is that damn chopper?”

  
“Get him to hold on, I see the guys now. He’ll be okay.”

  
The medics ran over to put Grif on a stretcher. Simmons’ nerves finally snapped, he couldn’t let Grif go. He was too afraid to, he may never see him again.

  
Carolina worried about his mental status. “Simmons, let go. They’re here to help, he really needs it.”

He could hear her talking, but it wasn’t making any sense.

  
Too much time was wasted, she knew how to handle him. She grabbed ahold of his arm and twisted It behind his back. The sharp sudden pain brought him back to reality. And a little extra payback for his new found attitude helped her ego.

  
“Stop it, you have to keep it together. Don’t you go giving up on me, your family needs you more than ever now. Anyone who’s brave enough to stand up to me, can handle anything.”

  
“I know, I know. I’m sorry… about everything. I didn’t hurt you when I shoved you did I?”

  
“Of course not, you’re not that tough. Just don’t plan on going to the training room anytime soon. Go ride with your husband, I need to snoop around here. Whoever did this was bound to leave a clue and I will find them.”

  
Let’s see how badly they screwed up.”


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Grif was settled in intensive care. He was in critical, yet stable condition.

Dr. Grey kicked Simmons out of Grif’s room with the promise that she was a medical genius and he need not worry about a thing.

God, she was still as looney tunes as ever. She was also the reason for his almost divorce from Grif. But they wouldn’t have little Dex without her, so it worked out.

  
And speaking of little Dex, he could hear the commotion from the baby all the way from the waiting room.

Shit, what is Wash doing to the kid? He needed a distraction anyway. He would trade one Dexter for another. He followed the sound of the screaming.

  
“What the hell is going on in here?” It was hard to tell who was crying more, Wash or Dex.

  
“I’m sorry, but I am the worst babysitter, ever of all time. I really tried, but this kid knows something is wrong. I feel so bad for him.”

  
“He’s been right about that all day. Now I’m wishing I listened to him.” As soon as he went near the baby, he stopped crying and reached out to him.

  
Wash felt even worse. “Why do babies hate me?”

  
Simmons managed a small smile. “He doesn’t hate you, he’s just upset.”

  
“I know that. Guess I’m postponing fatherhood for a while, I’d rather put up with an army than one little baby. Any recent news on Grif yet?”

  
Simmons sighed and shook his head. His face looked so worn out, Wash was afraid he would collapse. “Nope, it’s the same. Grey won’t know for sure until she examined him some more. All I can do is wait and worry.”

  
He and Wash went back to the waiting room. Wash didn’t want to leave him alone.

“I know I suck at babysitting, but if you want to be alone, I can take the baby for you.”

  
“No way, I really need him.” He settled into a recliner and cuddled the baby who was on the verge of falling asleep.

Simmons buried his face in his thick, black hair and tried not to cry, he couldn’t upset him more than he already was.

  
“You know what’s making it worse? I keep flash backing to every memory, to every dumbass thing he’s said or done. After all the times I’d been happy to be rid of him, now that I may actually lose him, I’d give anything to keep him.”

  
Wash was feeling just as awful. “That should have been me out there, I never should have asked him. He has a family and everything. It seemed like an easy mission, who knew it would turn out like this?”

  
Dr. Grey’s high pitched squealing made them both jump. “All rightee, Simmons got some news back for ya. Come on back with me and you see the invalid. I don’t think you should bring little Dexie back, seeing Grif like this would only traumatize him.”

  
His heart almost missed a beat. “What, how bad is he?”

  
“Well, he’s still breathing and his heart and lungs are functioning so that’s a good thing isn’t it? Of course, if he doesn’t pull through, I can do the autopsy for you, so it’s all good for me.”

Her laugh was so high pitch and maniacal, she scared the baby.

  
Oh lord, now Simmons was at the panic stage. How the hell could she talk about such morbid things and keep that plastic like smile on her face?

He could hardly get the words out. “Is he dying?” His heart really was broken.

  
“No, of course not silly. Don’t overdramatize the situation. Come on back and I’ll show ya.”

Thanks to this insanity, Grif may survive, but Simmons was going to have a stroke. Why are there no other doctors on this damn base?

  
Wash reached over to gently take the baby. He was so worn out, he was in no mood to struggle. He settled back with Wash to finish his nap.

“See, he likes me now, we’re old friends. Grey knows what she’s doing, he’ll be fine, you’re the one I’m worried about.”

  
Simmons faked a small smile. “I got this.” No, he didn’t, but he would keep up the illusion. It helped some to know that Dex was comfortable, now he had to see what chaos waited for him in the intensive care.

  
He gasped when he saw how terrible Grif looked. In the hospital gown, he could see most of his body was covered in solid bruises. His left arm was as torn up as his face was. On the sides of his head, he was connected to a lowly beeping machine. What the hell was that thing?

  
“That’s a cerebral monitor.” Grey came out of nowhere and scared Simmons.

“He suffered major head trauma from the accident. Right now, his brain activity is strong. The longer he stays in this coma, the greater his chances of brain damage becomes. He’s trying to wake up, but so far I got nothing.”

  
Simmons nodded. “While we were waiting for the medics, he tried to wake up. He looked up at me, but he went back under.”

  
“That’s why I’m hoping with some luck, he’ll wake up for you. I believe he can hear everything that’s going on. Maybe if you sit and talk to him, it might make a difference.”

  
“Sure, I want to stay with him. He looks terrible, is that all that’s wrong with him?”

  
“The bruises are mainly superficial, I cleaned out his wounds. There were little pieces of metal, some were wedged in pretty deep. But he’s good now. There’s some internal bruising, nothing serious, but his ribs are going to awfully sore for a while. If he pulls through, he’s going to need a lot of recovery time.”

  
“What do you mean ‘if’?”

  
“Sorry, I mean when. Totally meant to say it the first time. Worst case, if he ends up a vegetable, it’s not much different than how he is now.”

  
Simmons’ face turned bright red and he glared at her. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  
“Sorry, I’m so sorry. Too soon, my bad. I’ll leave you two alone now.”


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Simmons choked back his tears. That was the last thing Grif needed.

He always made fun of Simmons’ overreacting. He would roll his eyes and give a sarcastic comment or two about what a loser Simmons was. How he needed that right now. Grif helped bring him strength.

  
He moved over the heavy steel chair that was in the room so he could sit by Grif. He gently took ahold of his bruised hand, so afraid that he would hurt him. “

Oh god, where do I start? There’s so many things that I want to say to you. I wish I could be romantic and tell you how I feel. All these years it’s been nothing but insults and sarcasm, that’s how we get along.”

  
Simmons’ OCD issues kicked in, he tried to smooth back Grif’s black curly hair from his face. It was always a mess no matter what Grif tried to do to it.

Thanks to the helmet it was all over the place. Simmons fought with it, but it was a lost cause. To hell with it.

  
“When was the last time you had a haircut? When you’re feeling better, you’re getting it cut off. Great, at a time like this, I’m complaining about your hair. Some husband I am, I can’t tell you how much I love you, but I can bitch about your hair.”

  
He felt slight movement from Grif’s hand. Was that accidental or is he trying to wake up?

“Grif can you hear me? Come on you have to come back to me. Dex and I need you, you’re the only one who can save him from becoming a nerd like me.”

  
He hoped that would help spark Grif back into reality. Grif’s eyelids fluttered and Simmons felt more pressure on his hand. Grif was trying, there was still hope.

“If you can’t do it for me, you’ll do it for your son. I bet he can help you.” He carefully let go of his hand. “I’ll be right back.”

  
Dex was still sitting with Wash. He saw Simmons’ determined look as he reached to take the baby.

“What’s going on?”

  
“Grif’s trying to wake up, but I can’t quite get through to him. This guy certainly could. I got to risk it, somethings got to work.”

  
Simmons didn’t know what little Dex’s reaction would be. Would it terrify him to see his father like this?

  
It was too late to turn back, Dex was pretty mature for a baby, he could take it. Simmons didn’t have to worry, as soon as Dex saw grif, he smiled and wanted to go to him.

  
Simmons held him near Grif. I hope this works. “Grif, someone here wants to see you, he misses you. We should have listened to him in the first place to not let you leave.”

  
Grif didn’t have much strength left, but he forced his eyes to open, he wanted to see his son. He could barely move his arm, but he tried so hard to touch the baby.

Simmons smiled, for the first time all day, he could relax. He helped Grif out and brought the baby closer to him. He had to hold Dex back because he wanted to lay in Grif’s arms.

  
Grif was able to put his arm around him and give him a weak hug. “Hi buddy, I missed you. Both of you.”

He looked over at Simmons. He didn’t have to say to say it, he knew what Simmons went through to save him. He couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer, he fell asleep. But this time it was a restful sleep, he was safe, at least for this time.

  
“Come on, let daddy sleep, you’ll get to see him in the morning.”

Dex was getting kind of crabby from being overtired and missing Grif.

“I know, you’re going to go home and get some sleep. I’ll stay here and watch over him tonight. Okay, can you do that for me?”

  
Wash came over to get the baby. “I think you need some sleep too. Grif will be okay for a few hours. You look like you’re going to collapse.”

  
“No way am I leaving him. When the baby was sick, I sat up with him all night, and it is no different with Grif. I’m a worrier, I can’t help it.”

  
“Guess there’s no point in trying to argue with that. Dex will be fine tonight. Turns out, I’m not doing too badly, maybe babies don’t hate me after all.”

  
“Excellent job sir.” He gave a fake salute. Simmons had come a long way since his major ass kissing days to all higher authority in order to further his own career. But he occasionally liked to make fun of it.

  
He went back to Grif, planning on flopping down on the chair and passing out. He got a surprise, Grif was awake and waiting for him.

“Ha, I knew you wouldn’t leave here tonight. You gotta worry about everyone but yourself.”

  
“So what if I do? I don’t always like to admit it, but I kind of like you.”

  
“Bullshit, you totally love me.”

  
Simmons’ face turned red. After all these years, Grif could still make him blush. “I thought you were dying, of course I would say all that crap that I don’t mean.”

  
“Nope you definitely mean it. I love you too ya nerd, but I ain’t chopping off my hair for anyone.”

  
“We’ll see about that. I thought you were supposed to be sleeping?”

  
“Yeah, I’m so tired, but for the first time ever I can’t sleep.”

  
“Why not?”

  
“Cause you’re not beside me, elbowing me for snoring too loudly. Sleep isn’t even any fun without you.”

  
“Really? Okay watch out.”

He squeezed on the bed beside Grif as well as he could. There wasn’t much room, but he was really skinny, he would make it work. It wasn’t very comfortable, but at least they were together.

  
“I can’t believe you actually did that for me.”

  
“Yeah yeah. Shut up and go to sleep, and no snoring.

  
“No promises dude.” He fell asleep with his head on Simmons’ shoulder.

  
Good lord, how am I suppose to sleep like this?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Simmons could hear a commotion coming from Grif’s hospital room. For a guy that almost died only a few days ago, he’s certainly made a comeback, at least his mouth has.

His first day of recovery had been quiet, he mostly slept and he was agreeable. Now that he was really feeling better, watch out.

He was yelling at Dr. Grey. The two have never gotten along, Grif said she was too annoying. He was also pissed when she showed too much favoritism towards Simmons. That was his nerd, he had to protect him.

Simmons barged through the door. “What is going on in here?”

Grey answered. “Someone is feeling much better and thinks he knows more than his doctor knows.”

“Yeah, because I do. You come between me and my lunch and get what you deserve.”

“It’s for your own good.”

“Bullshit, she’s trying to kill me.”

Simmons rolled and shook his head. He really really didn’t want to know, but had to ask.

“Why, what did she do to you?”

 

“She won’t let me have ice cream for lunch. She brought me yogurt. Not even frozen yogurt, and it’s plain, there’s no flavor. Every invalid in the hospital gets ice cream to recuperate, so where’s mine?”

“Ice cream is for tonsillitis, not head trauma.”

“I almost died, it so counts.”

Grey tried to help. “The yogurt is healthier, you need to watch your weight.”

Grif glared at her. Simmons felt defensive. “Emily, how about you leave before you make him worse.”

“All rightee, I’ll see you at dinner time with more yogurt.”

“Oh my god, I hate her so much!” “She is right you know, you need to start watching.” Grif glared at him, and he had to laugh.

“All right, later I’ll sneak you in some ice cream.”

“It better be Rocky Road. Where’s the baby? You always take him everywhere.”

“I left him with a babysitter. Jensen volunteered, since she’s my lieutenant, I can trust her. I’m trying to let go, but just a little bit.”

“Wow, that’s a big step. But we still need to have the little guy around a lot.”

“Definitely, this way we can spend more together. I think we need it.”

There was a knock on the door.

“That better not be the psycho bitch.”

Wash peeked in the door. “Can I come in guys?”

“I was partially right, it is a psycho, but I can stand this one.”

“Thanks Grif, glad to see you’re getting back to normal.”

Simmons shook his head. “He’s too normal. Here’s a chair for you.”

“I need to ask you what you remember about the accident.”

“It wasn’t an accident, it was a set up.”

“Carolina has been snooping around trying to dig up some clues on who’s involved. They have the peace treaty, so we need to find them. If you can remember anything, it will help us.”

Grif had a strained look on his face. Simmons was concerned, he was all too familiar with Grif’s bouts of PTSD. He would wake up screaming from them almost every night.

He sat on the bed and took Grif’s hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. Grif felt better, he wouldn’t have to go it alone.

“Yeah, I think I can help you, but I don’t think you want to know what I know.”

Wash took in a big breath, he knew from the serious look on Grif’s face that he wouldn’t like it. “All right, go ahead.”

“The main culprit was this nasty chick who claimed she was your sister. She planned on you making the delivery. I hate to tell ya dude but she wanted to kill you.”

The room got so quiet. Wash’s frown grew deeper. He seemed almost oblivious to fact that Grif and Simmons was still there.

“Cassandra. She was my younger sister, there was barely a year age difference between us.”

Simmons spoke quietly, he didn’t want to pressure Wash into giving information that he didn’t want to give. “What do you mean ‘was’ your sister?”

“The two of us had a fight when we were kids. It was all so stupid, I don’t even remember why. I decided to stop talking to her, and I’ve never spoken a word to her since. I disowned her a long time ago, actually my whole family. They weren’t the best people to even know let alone be a family.”

Grif knew exactly what he meant. “Oh yeah, you got a lousy one that too? I haven’t spoken to my folks since they ditched me , shortly before I was drafted.”

Simmons nodded. “Same here, I was close to my mom, but she took off after my father beat her when he was drunk. He treated me like a disappointment because I wasn’t what he wanted me to be. That’s a mistake I’ll never make with Dex.”

Wash was almost having a proud leader moment. “See, in our unique way, we are a family. That’s one of the lessons I tried to teach you guys. Anything else you remember, Grif?”

“Not too much. She’s working for someone higher up than she is and she has some idiots helping her. Other than that, I’ve got nothing.”

Wash nodded, he was deep in thought. “Thanks Grif, you’ve helped fill in some holes to the information Carolina found. These guys are dangerous and need to be stopped. I’m going to check in with Carolina, thanks guys.”

“I’ll be back in a minute Grif.” Simmons went to follow Wash.

“Hey Wash, I want to help you find these assholes.”

“No way, I feel bad enough getting Grif involved. You got a family to think about, getting yourself killed won’t do either of them any good.”

“No one is going to threaten my family and get away with it. I may not be able to help with any ground attacks, but I know I can help with surveillance. I can hack into any computer system, we can find them.”

“All right, that’s fair enough. Just be careful with it. I’ll get in touch with Carolina, and we’ll take it from there. For now, keep your husband from strangling the doctor. We may have a war coming, we’ll need her.”

“Sure Wash.”

Wash wasn’t happy about this. What the hell should he do. He may hate her, but she was still his sister. If the opportunity came to shoot her, could he do it? Would he make the right choice when it came? He wished Tucker was here, he needed support.

To hell with it, he’ll worry about it when the time comes.


	9. Chapter 9

 

 

“Hey Agent Washington, fear not I have arrived.”

Tucker and Wash had been separated for almost a month, way too long for Tucker. He heard about some of the problems between Wash and his estranged sister, and he wanted to be there for his boyfriend. When he didn’t get a grand welcoming, his feelings were crushed.

  
“Well, don’t everybody come running at rush to see me.”

  
“What Tucker? Oh, welcome back.”

Wash didn’t even turn around to look at him. He was flipping through some surveillance tapes that Carolina sent. Simmons showed him ten times how to use this computer, but damned if it would work for him. He couldn’t get focused in on the camera.

  
“Seriously, that’s all I get?”

  
The hint finally caught Wash’s attention. “Of course not.” Wash reached back behind to try to hug Tucker while still staring at the screen.

“Do you know how to use a computer, I’m lost.” He turned to look at Tucker, with a big dorky grin on his face. Tucker’s bad mood melted away, he never could resist that smile.

“You know I missed you, there’s been too much drama going on.”

  
“I’ll forgive you. What the hell are you trying to do?”

  
“These are the surveillance tapes Carolina has been trying to send me. I have issues trying to download them. This machine hates me.”

  
“Why don’t you have Simmons do it for you? Computers are kind of his thing.”

  
“He already explained it to me, about ten times, he was getting pretty ticked off at me. After what all happened with Grif, I hate bugging him.”

  
“I just can’t believe you got Grif to actually do anything for once.”

  
“That’s not even the weirdest thing. Simmons stood up to me and even Carolina.”

  
“With you, that’s not hard to do…now Carolina, that’s suicide.”

  
“Yeah I know, I think parenthood did something to toughen him up.”

  
“I leave for a while, and come back to the Twilight Zone.”

  
“That means you got to stick around more often.” His sly little smile was teasing Tucker.

  
Tucker gave him a salute. “Yes sir.”

 

“Damnit Wash, how could you screw this up? I know we don’t have the best computer equipment around here, but it shouldn’t be crashing like this. It’s a simple PDF file, what’s so hard about that?”

  
He gave Simmons a blank look, he didn’t even know what that meant. He tried to open the file again, he was too afraid to even look at the computer let alone touch it.

  
Simmons tried to be sympathetic. With Grif still in the hospital, he had a hard time getting a sitter for the baby and he had to bring him.

He was sitting on a blanket playing with some blocks watching the scene with interest.

“Don’t worry, you can’t hit the wrong button, just click on it.”

  
Wash hesitated again, what if the system crashed a second time. What patience Simmons started out with, was gone.

  
“I SAID YOU CAN’T HIT THE WRONG THING!”

He spoke as slowly and sarcastically as possible. He was pretty sure the baby could do a better job than Wash.

  
“That’s easy for you to say, computers don’t hate you.”

  
“For gods sake; here, I’ll do it for you.” He pushed Wash out of the way. That’s what he should have done in the first place. Carolina’s file promptly downloaded for him.

“There, you see?”

  
The baby got tired of his blocks and started crying. Simmons sighed, he should have known he’d be stuck with everything.

Before he could pick him up, Tucker came by to help.

  
“Hey there little dude. Boy are you getting big, you really look like Grif now.”

At the sound of his voice, little Dex calmed down, he remembered Tucker, they were buddies.

He sat down on the floor and took ahold of the blocks. “Let’s see what we can make with these.” He played with Dex so Simmons could work.

  
“Thanks Tucker.”

  
Tucker shrugged. “No problem, I love kids. I missed out on being able to do this with Junior.”

  
It took Simmons less than twenty minutes to download all of the files. Wash had been trying for over an hour.

“Anything else you need Wash?”

  
Wash looked embarrassed and Tucker tried to not laugh at him. Wash shot him a dirty look.

“Just wait until tonight, you’re camping out on the couch.”

  
Tucker stopped laughing, but still looked amused.

“You’re bluffing dude, but seriously, even this little baby would do better than you with a computer.”

  
“That’s exactly what I thought!”

Simmons chuckled as he gathered up Dex’s stuff. “Wash seriously, if anything else comes in, let me handle it. I want to kill these assholes for what they’ve done to Grif.”

  
“All right, I give up. Surveillance is all yours.”

  
Tucker made a big production of waving goodbye to the baby before turning to Wash.

“You were right, Simmons has toughened up, I can almost tolerate the nerd.”

  
“I never realized you were that good with kids. You always acted indifferent with not having Junior around when he was young.”

  
“Yeah, that was to help deal with the pain. No matter that Dr. Grey thought I was a human host for an alien, I know i’m his father. Not being allowed to keep him around really hurt. And all the kids I supposedly father during the Temple purge, I’ll never get a chance to know them. Guess that’s just my life. I’m exhausted, let’s get ready for bed.”

  
He took off towards the quarters they shared. Tucker always acted like he had to be so tough, Wash could see through that. He knew how bad it hurt Tucker.

He was afraid being neat little Dex would bring too many bad memories, so far he seemed okay. Too bad he couldn’t anything to help him.

  



	10. Chapter 10

 

 

Tucker awoke in the middle of the night trying to remember where he was. Oh yeah, he was home, he reached across the bed. Where was Wash?

He saw him sitting in a chair, just staring into space. Tucker didn’t think he was asleep, no he saw him blinking.

  
The perpetual frown lines on Wash’s face looked deeper than Tucker remembered. His heart ached for Wash, he was like nowhere in the stratosphere. He reached over and lightly touched him on the shoulder. Wash jumped a mile.

  
“Chill dude, it’s only me. You want to come to bed, it’s more comfortable than that stupid chair.”

  
“No, not yet. I was thinking about some stuff, it was keeping me up.”

  
Tucker moved closer to him. “Like what kind of stuff?”

  
“Flashbacks to when I was kid. Trying to remember the family crap I’ve tried to forget. Mostly about my dad.” He shuddered when he said it.

  
Tucker knelt down beside him. “Why do you want to remember? Your dad was a total douche.”

  
Wash smiled. “Yeah I know. I don’t know why, but it’s bothering me. All this with Cassandra, I don’t know how else to deal with it besides worrying.”

  
“Then don’t worry. At least come back to bed, it’s three in the morning, you need to sleep. You got me, you don’t need to worry about them.”

  
He held out his hand to Wash and he took and let him lead him to bed. As long as he had Tucker for support, he could get through anything.

He laid his head on Tucker’s shoulder and for the first time in a long time, he fell into a peaceful sleep with no nightmares.

Wash woke in time to receive Carolina’s daily radio check. She checked in every morning to compare info with Wash whether they had any info or not.

Even though Carolina was a bad ass Agent, Wash still worried about her. This way he knew she was okay without her knowing he was checking on her.

  
“Hey Wash, I got some actual updates for you.”

  
Tucker grabbed the microphone out of Wash’s hand. “Hi Carolina, ya miss me babe?”

  
“Shut up Tucker. Put Wash back on.”

  
“Damnit Tucker, give me the radio.”

  
“Chill, I was just trying to have some fun you buzzkill.”

  
“Stop it and act your age. Carolina, are you still there?” He wouldn’t be surprised if she hung up.

  
She groaned and rolled her eyes. How did she get mixed up with these idiots? They already converted Wash to their intelligence levels, would she be next?

  
“Yes Wash, are two done with play time?”

  
His face burned with embarrassment. Thank god she wasn’t there to see it. “Yeah all good here, I got rid of Tucker so we can talk.”

  
“Seriously Wash, for your sister thinking she’s a pro mercenary, she and her goons left a lot of trails. They look like they move from makeshift bases quite frequently. By the time I find one, they’ve already moved to another.”

  
“Could she be doing that as a decoy?”

  
“Possibly, I don’t know if she’s that intelligent or just sloppy.”

  
“As kids she was more of the stupid muscle type, while I was the nerdy book student kid. She really could be that careless.”

  
“Stupid or a genius, I will find her. She won’t last much longer.”

  
“When you do find her, what do you plan on doing to her?” Why was he nervous to ask that, he hated his sister.

  
“Obviously I’ll kill her.”

  
“No trial time or a jury?”

  
“She commuted a major act of treason. She stole official documents, planned on executing you and she left Grif for dead. As far as I’m concerned, she’s dead where she stands.”

  
“Kinda harsh ‘Lina.”

  
“Life is harsh, get over it. Just let me do what I need to do.”

  
“I should be the one hunting her down.”

  
“You know you can’t physically keep up anymore. When and if I need backup, I’ll let you know, until then, just wait.”

  
Wash sighed, he felt like a washed up old solider. “Fine, I’ll be here for when you don’t need me.”

He hung up the line, he didn’t care what she thought anymore.

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

 

Wash was already in a bad mood when he reached the training room. Seeing Tucker twirling his energy sword like a baton made him worse.

  
“Look what I can do with Excalibur, isn’t it cool?”

  
“Tucker, stop it! You’re going to cut your arm off with that thing. It’s a weapon, not a toy.”

  
Tucker was hurt. “I thought you would be proud of me, I’m learning to use this sword to its highest abilities. What’s so wrong about that?”

  
“Because you’re being stupid and someone’s going to get hurt. Put it away, pick up a gun and work on some target practicing. You can’t always rely on a fancy sword when you’re in battle.”

  
Tucker stared at him with a funny look on his face. What the hell happened to him? He was only joking around, Wash knew that. He tried to follow Wash as he made his way to the weight room.

“Wash, what’s wrong…”

  
The pissed look on Wash’s face stopped him. “Tucker I’m sorry, I’m not mad at you, but just stay out of my way for now.”

He stalked into the weight room and slammed the door behind him.

  
He glanced longingly at the heavy weights by the back wall. He was never known as the strongest freelancer, but he could still bench press 250lbs. That was pretty good for a guy his size.

Now, even though he was fully recovered from his near fatal gunshot wound, he could barely lift half that much. Every day simple activities made his neck and shoulder burn with pain. Damnit, it wasn’t fair, he was too young to feel this old.

  
He pounded his stress away on the nearest punching bag. It made him feel better, he felt less worthless, more powerful, even if he didn’t believe it.

He forgot his workout gloves and didn’t care. His bare hands were soon cut up and bloody, but he still pounded on. He realized why Carolina kept up such strict training, it helped calm the inner pain.

  
He was aware of the burning pain in his hands but still couldn’t stop. A pair of hands grabbed for him.

“Wash, cut it out, you’re hurt.”

Tucker’s voice cut through the fog, Wash slowly came back to reality. “Why the hell are pounding that thing so hard? Are you that pissed with me that you’re imagining that’s my head or something?”

  
Though Tucker tried a weak approach at a joke, he was seriously worried about Wash. He was known to have suffered small bouts of insanity thanks to an unstable AI, but that was in the past. He worked through it. Tucker was determined to keep him happy, no matter how bad things got.

  
Wash managed a smile for Tucker, though he still looked dazed and confused. Wash knew how Tucker worried, so he’ll pretend he’s okay.

“Sorry, got a little too in the zone. Carolina recommended punching the bag for stress relief, and I got carried away.”

  
“Damn, look at your hands, you got that much stress? C’mon, let’s go to the infirmary to get those hands fixed up.”

  
“No, I refuse to put up with Dr. Grey, she freaks me out. She’ll want to know how it happened, and I really don’t want to talk to her. She won’t be happy until I end up in the psych ward.”

  
Tucker laughed, what a big, brave Freelancer he wasn’t. “Okay, how I swipe the first aid kit and do it myself.”

  
“How are you going to get past Grey?”

  
“Easy, I’ll cause a distraction. I snuck some Oreos in to Grif since he’s he’s still in the hospital, Grey won’t let him have junk food.He owes me one.”

  
He managed to sneak to Grif’s room unseen. “Aw shit, Simmons is in there, now it’s impossible to sneak in there.”

  
He started tapping at the window, he wasn’t sure where Grey was. Grif heard him first. “What the hell is that noise?”

  
Simmons looked out the window and rolled his eyes. “You’re idiot friend is out there. Tucker, get in here, what are you doing?”

  
“Cool, maybe he has more Oreos.”  
He motioned for Simmons to come out. He sighed and shook his head, but he went.

“What?!”

  
“Is Dr. Grey in there?”

  
“No, why?”

  
“I need a distraction so I can grab the first aid kit.” He and Simmons went in the room.

  
“Why don’t you just ask for it instead of being stupid? Is someone hurt?”

  
“Yeah, it’s for Wash, he went a little crazy and cut up his hands, he doesn’t want her to know. Grif, can’t you call her in for something?”

  
“I dunno, like what? I hate when she’s in here.”

  
“Like your ribs or head hurt, make something up.”

  
“Yeah, I guess so.”

  
Simmons interrupted. “No, she’ll bring you more painkillers and I don’t want you having any more. Tell her your blood sugar dropped and you need a snack. She’ll be so busy yelling at you on why you don’t need it. That’ll buy us some time to swipe the kit.”

  
“What do you mean, ‘us’? It’s me who’s helping Wash.”

  
“Even if the injury isn’t bad, it should be treated by someone who knows what they’re doing; as in not you.”

  
“No way…” He stopped short.

Simmons gave him his new attitude look. He wasn’t giving up, now Tucker understood what Wash had meant, Simmons had mastered his dad look.

  
Grif laughed at him. “I know man, he’s too stubborn, you won’t win.”

  
“Great, give us a head start and call Grey in.”

Damnit, I wanted to be the one to help Wash. He would pout over it the rest of the day.  


 


	12. Chapter 12

 

  
“Good thing I didn’t need a tourniquet or I’d really be in trouble. I thought you said this would be easy.” Wash looked amused.

  
“I had a few complications and gained a stowaway.” He glared at Simmons who ignored him.

He had custody of the first aid kit. His natural instinct was to kiss up to higher authority, he couldn’t help being an overachiever.

  
“I had to lend him a hand, if you left it up to Tucker and Grif, who knows what trouble they’d start.”

  
“Dr. Grey didn’t see you at all?”

  
“Of course not.” Tucker could brag about that.

  
“Well good luck taking it back and just hope she doesn’t notice it was missing in the first place.”

  
Shit, he didn’t think that far ahead. “Simmons can do it, he’s the genius.”

  
“Yeah, Thanks.” He had the bottle of rubbing alcohol to clean Wash’s wounds. “Hold still, I have to clean these.”

  
Wash was nervous. “ Uh, can’t you skip this part and just put on the bandaids?”

  
“No, you have to clean it first. You don’t want an infection do you?”

  
“No of course not.” He closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain.

  
“Oww!”

  
“Wash, I didn’t pour any yet.” He poured a tiny bit on Wash’s hand. He really yelled that time.

  
Tucker tried to be sympathetic, he didn’t want to laugh, but he couldn’t help it. “What a brave Freelancer you aren’t.”

  
“Okay Wash, I’m all finished. You can open your eyes now. I’m just putting on the bandaids.”

  
“Aww Wash, you want me to kiss it and make it better?”

  
He blushed like crazy, but didn’t exactly tell Tucker no. As a joke, Tucker leaned over to kiss Wash’s hand. Simmons made a face and stepped away from him.

  
“You two are gross.”

  
“Oh come on, like you and Grif never act like this when you’re alone?”

  
“No, we really don’t act like that. But we both like making fun of people who are mushy like you guys.”

  
“Suck it Red!”

  
“Wash, do you mind me asking how your hands got like this?”

  
“Over exercising.”

  
“I like exercising too, but not enough to beat myself up. Is there anything you’d like to talk about?”

  
Tucker felt the need to protect Wash. “It’s nothing that concerns you.”

  
Wash didn’t need Tucker to defend him. “Chill Tucker, he only asked a question.” He trusted Simmons, even if Tucker didn’t approve.

  
“You know what drama is going on with my sister. Carolina feels the need to handle vigilante justice on her own, without my help.”

  
“You don’t agree with her?”

  
“Carolina has improved since her early on shoot first, ask questions later tactics. But she still relies too much on letting her weapons handle the justice instead of the courts.”

  
It was hard for the proud Freelancer to admit his insecurities.

“What is bothering me is I don’t know if I’m being biased since this case is involving my sister, or I’m losing my edge altogether. Some days, I just don’t know.”

  
“No way Wash, to me, you’re still the best solider ever. If Carolina is bugging you that badly, the two of us will go out and find your sister first.”

  
“Tucker, it’s not that easy. Cassandra is a well trained solider, my dad was all military, he forced it onto both of us. And according to Grif, she may have an entire army backing her up. It’s only the two of us, we have no extra soldiers to spare right now.”

  
“Well, we have Simmons, he doesn’t have much going on.”

  
“What, how the hell did I get involved in this?”

  
“She threatened your family, she almost killed your husband. He’s still lying hurt in a hospital bed having terrible nightmares because of her. Don’t you want some revenge?”

  
“Well…yes I would, but even with three people, you don’t stand a chance.”

  
“Simmons, I don’t want you involved. You have a family, they need you here. Tucker, he’s right, there’s only three of us. I’m a washed out, has been solider. I’m useless.” Carolina said so.

  
“Oh c’mon you guys, no matter how tough our other battles were, we made it through. We did it because we stuck together. If I have to, I’ll fight this by myself, but I really need you guys.”

Ah crap, what’s the use, we’re screwed. I’m surprised we’ve lived this long.

  
Wash was so proud. “Great job in the motivational speech, you are turning into a good leader. You know I’m in.”

  
They both looked at Simmons, he squirmed under those critical looks. Oh shit, I don’t want this. He tried to put on a brave face.What am I doing?

No, this is for Grif. I worked too hard to make this family, and she tried to wreck it.

  
“I’m in too, that bitch is going down.” He sounded confident, but he was shaking like crazy.  
  



	13. Chapter 13

 

  
Simmons went into Grif’s hospital room. Grif was playing with the baby. They were building a fort out of blocks on his hospital bed. Grif was doing most of the building with little Dex happily helping him.

  
“Hey, check out what our baby Einstein can build.”

  
Simmons smiled, thank god for the baby, he was pleasant distraction to all this drama.

  
“Great job buddy, you’re going to make a great engineer yet.” Dex looked proud of himself. “Grif some things have come up and I’ll need you to keep an eye on him.”

  
Grif didn’t seem concerned, he didn’t act like he cared much. “Oh yeah, what kind of things?”

  
This may go easier than Simmons was afraid of. “Well…Wash and Tucker were going to go after Wash’s sister and they need my help.”

  
“What! Are you crazy? You could be killed!”

  
The baby got scared by Grif’s yelling and started crying. He lowered his voice and put his arms around Dex to calm him down.

  
“See, even he thinks it’s a bad idea.”

  
“What else am I supposed to do, they need help.”

  
“It’s a Blue Team problem, stay out of it. Let Wash and Tucker handle it.”

  
“This could start a war, then it’ll be everyone’s problem. Believe me, I’m the last one who wants to get in a battle, but if I get killed, at least Dex still has you. If this goes to war, we may both die, what would happen to him then. So now I have to pretend to be a hero for the sake of my son.”

  
Grif got quiet, he could hardly look his husband in the eyes. “I don’t want to lose you, it should be me out there. The baby needs you more than he needs me. She was the one who injured me; it should be my revenge not yours.”

  
“Don’t say that, you’re a great father. Anyway with those bruised ribs, you can hardly breathe let alone fight. It’s not so much about the revenge, it’s because it’s the right thing to do. I know I’m not great on the battlefield, but some of my best fighting can be done from behind the computer. I’ll be a lot safer there.”

  
Grif had tears in his eyes. “Fine, but if you get killed, I’ll never forgive you. This ‘Til death do us part crap really sucks.”

  
“I know, but I’ll be fine. Are you okay with Dex here? I don’t want him to know I’m leaving. If he starts crying, I’ll lose it.”

  
“Yep, we’re fine, he’ll build you a house out of his blocks for when you come back.”

  
“Good, because I want to get out of here.”

  
The main advantage of being the IT manager, is he had full access to the Mainframe computer. All files, transmissions, cameras, everything was at his fingertips. And no one would think twice to why he’s there. It was perfect.

  
Simmons started the computer, it beeped angrily at him, but the screen loaded. He silently said a prayer that there was something, anything he could use. The three of them didn’t stand a chance. He had to lessen the odds.

  
Right off the bat, he found the miracle he needed. Carolina had called in backup, funny how it wasn’t to Wash. He looked in further. Holy shit, her backup was to Lavernius Tucker Junior, Tucker’s alien son.

  
He hadn’t seen Junior in years. He was already a bad ass alien as a child, now he had Freelancer fighting training to back it all up. He and Tucker hadn’t been able to see each other much, but they still were very close.

  
“ Hmm, Carolina doesn’t need him as much as we do. I’m going to put the call out and see if I can catch him. My Sangheili alien language course wasn’t the greatest, but I know enough to talk to him.”

  
Ten minutes later, the translated Sangheili message came through. “If Dad is in trouble, I want to help him.   
I’m on my way.”

  
Simmons messaged back. “Great, see you soon.”

  
Well now they had backup, he hoped that Junior would make it in time. They’re not in the clear yet.

  
Why is the main surveillance camera freaking out? He played around with the zoom option. He saw a figure, but it was too far away to see who or what it was.

There was no way Junior could make it that fast, and Carolina would have radioed in if she coming back early.

  
He got the picture in focus. Light grey and yellow trim, exactly what color armor Grif described Wash’s sister to be wearing. It won’t take her long to figure out how to break in. They got a problem.


	14. Chapter 14

 

“Son of a bitch, I have lost my edge.”

  
Wash held his pistol in perfect shooting stance. His right hand was shaking so badly, he couldn’t control it.

He felt an arm reach around his shoulder. He jumped, he still had major paranoia issues.

  
“Chill hon, it’s only me. What’s the problem here?” Tucker’s voice was a welcoming distraction.

Wash let his guard down and leaned back into his arms. At least for the moment, he felt safe.

“Need help with anything?”

  
Wash shook his head, oh god, where did he begin. “No, there’s nothing you can do, it’s all my fault.” Who am I kidding, Carolina was right.

  
“I’m a has been solider that is way past his prime.”

  
“Oh come on, she never actually said that.” And Tucker thought he was the drama king.

  
“She may as well of said it. It’s the truth.”

  
“No way am I buying this.”

  
“There is nothing psychically wrong me, but I can’t hold a gun without freezing up. I can’t even sleep at night anymore without my damned past haunting me every moment. This is no way to live.”

  
Tucker held Wash closer to him and buried his face in his blond hair. He wished he could take away Wash’s pain and make every nightmare go away.

  
“I know hon, you’ve been through hell and back, but you’re still alive, you’re still fighting. That’s why you’ll always be a great solider. Hell, you managed to make a solider out of this smart mouthed loser. You’ll always be the best to me.”

  
“You know you’re a terrible liar, but I love you for it.” He laid his head back against Tucker’s muscular chest. He felt safe and secure, like nothing could hurt him. He didn’t want to move. Too bad it couldn’t last.

  
“Well, we better suit up. The sooner we find Cassandra, the sooner we can go on with our lives.”

  
He halfheartedly put on his gear. His thoughts ran wild, they were really torturing him.

  
“If we do find her, what am I supposed to do, she’s still my sister. Would I really be able to kill her. After watching all of my friends die right in front of, can I add to the torment?”

  
He was getting ready to lock on his helmet when his radio comm interrupted his thoughts.

Simmons screaming voice buzzed through.

  
“Wash, we got a problem!”

  
“Okay, give me a minute.”

  
“No, you don’t have a minute. She’s here, she’s entered the building.”

  
“Cassandra, she found me? I was worried about not finding her.”

  
“What do I do now Wash?” His voice was high pitched in his panic.

  
“Calm down, then radio Tucker. Tell him we’re splitting up so we can get the drop on her. You follow her on the cameras for us. Between the three of us, we’ll find her.”

  
Simmons wasn’t as hopeful. “The cameras work fine, but there’s not enough of them. If she finds a blind spot in the cameras, we won’t see her time.”

  
“Then we have to work harder don’t we. Just do the best you can. Tucker and I aren’t completely helpless here.”

  
Two minutes later, Tucker’s voice came in. “All rightee Wash, I’m on the case, I’ll stop her for you. I’ve got Excalibur ready to go.” Wash could hear the swoosh of his energy sword.

  
“That’s great Tucker, just be careful, don’t get too cocky on me.”

  
“No way, I got this.”

  
Oh god, I never should have gotten him involved in this. One day his luck is going to run out.

  
Tucker made his way down a dark hallway. “That Cassandra bitch better watch out, this one is for Wash. No one threatens him and gets away with it.”

  
Simmons screaming voice on the radio startled the hell out of him.

  
“Tucker look out, she’s headed your way. Keep to your left…your other left dumbass.”

  
He crashed right into Cassandra.

“Hello Sweetie. What am I supposed to watching out for, Cause it looks like you’re the one who’s in trouble.”

  
“Aww, shit…”

  
She had her pistol aimed at his head. “Drop your weapons now!”  
He dropped the two guns he had with him. Luckily, he put away the energy sword before Cassandra saw it. Did she not see it? He prayed she wouldn’t. “Happy, I’m unarmed.”

  
She grabbed him roughly by the arm and held her gun against his head. “You may not be Washington, but you’ll make a fine hostage. He would do anything for his sweet little boyfriend. I can see why he loves you.”

  
“Sorry, I gave up dating psycho bitches for my New Year resolution. Guess you gotta pick someone else.”

  
Her grip on his arm tightened as she twisted it behind his back. He winced in pain. He wasn’t expecting her to be as strong as she was.

“Open your mouth again, I will rip your damn arm out of the socket. Do you understand?”

  
“Goddamn, all right I stop, chill out.” He still had the energy sword, she didn’t see it. Wait for the right moment, he was getting out of this.

  
“Very good, now be a good little boy and call Wash for me.”


	15. Chapter 15

 

“Wash, we got a problem. Your boyfriend was an idiot and got captured.” Simmons disgusted voice came on Wash’s com. “Now what do we do? Do you need me to come down and help you?”

  
“Just great.” I knew this would happen, no matter how tough he acts, it’s still Tucker, what did I expect?

“No, stay where you are. I need you to find out where they are. Maybe I can surprise her.”

  
God, I have really have no idea what I’m doing. I’m going to fake it, then maybe I’ll believe I know what am I’m doing. But I can’t tell Simmons that, that’s all I need is him screeching and panicking on me.

  
“Yes sir, she’s in a blind spot on the cameras at the moment, but at the rate they were moving, they should be in view soon.”

  
Then the message Wash dreaded getting came in.

  
“Uh, hi Wash. I’m in a little bit of trouble here, Cassandra thought you should know that.”

  
“Yes, I already heard. Don’t worry babe, I’ll get you out of this.”

  
“I’m not worried at all, I can get myself out of this.”

  
“Don’t you dare, do not try anything. Wait until I get there.”

  
He heard Tucker being pushed away. Cassandra’s voice came online.

  
“Hello David, that’s exactly what I planned on. Come and give your self up and I’ll let your precious boyfriend go. You’re a great Freelancer, come and find me.”

  
Shit, now I remember why I hate her so much. “Simmons, you got anything yet?”

  
“Yes, top floor, it’s considered attic space. Looks like she has him handcuffed, but he looks okay. Go in quietly.”

  
“Okay, Thanks. Over and out.” What the hell do I do when I get there?

 

 

“All right smart guy, if you try to break loose, I’ll slit your throat. He’s coming up here, like I can’t intercept a radio transmission, that idiot.”

  
“He’s smarter than you, he said so himself. You’re the dumb muscle of the family.” He felt the rope holding his wrists pulled tighter. “Oww, will you quit doing that?”

  
“You’re such a crybaby, I’m surprised he wants you back. If you’re smart, you’ll keep your mouth shut.”

  
Tucker huffed in anger, but he kept quiet. With his wrists bound, he couldn’t reach the energy sword. His plans for killing her were delayed.

Escaping was his only chance. If she killed Wash, he didn’t know how he could go on, she may as well kill him too. He had to think of a way to protect Wash.

  
As if on cue, Wash quietly came into view. The first thing he saw was Tucker left standing in the middle of the room. He motioned to him to keep quiet.

Tucker motioned his head to the right, trying to silently warn Wash that Cassandra was there. Wash caught it.

  
Wash had to put his hostage negotiation skills to the test. “Quit being a coward, I’m the one you want, let Tucker go.”

  
“Hey, I’m a good fighter!”

  
“Shut up Tucker.” Good god, he can be such a moron.

  
“Aww, it’s not that easy. First ditch your weapons, all of them. I know you’re the weapons expert, I’m taking no chances with you.”

  
He carefully laid down every gun and knife he had on him. He put up his hands to show he was unarmed.

  
“Wash, why did you do that? You know she’s going to kill us anyway. At least you could have shot the bitch.”

  
“You are now the one that gets killed first.”

  
Tucker had been working his wrist ties loose. He surprised himself when it worked. Now if he could only reach Excalibur.

  
He lunged the energy sword at her. She ducked a little too fast and knocked the sword from his hand. “Son of a bitch, that was fast.”

  
“My mentor was Felix. As you can see, he trained me well. Now I can get revenge on those that killed him.”

  
“I didn’t kill him sis, if you want to take his death up with someone, go talk to Locus.”

  
“Tucker will do just fine.” Her gun was pointed at his head.

  
Wash froze with fear, it was his nightmare. He had no weapon, no way to save Tucker’s life.

  
Out of the shadows, a large form grabbed ahold of the energy sword. It blazed to life. The large, turquoise form roared with rage and stabbed her with the sword.

  
“Junior, Great shot dude! That’s my boy!”

  
Wash was in shock. “Only Tucker can use it, how can he?”

  
“Have I not said it for years that he is biologically my son. This proves it, I’m right.”

  
There was so much commotion that no one noticed that Cassandra was still breathing.

The gun was aimed at Tucker’s head. Junior couldn’t quite make it in time. He pushed his dad out of the way, but the bullet grazed Tucker’s shoulder.

  
“NO!” Wash’s shot was dead center in her forehead. She went down and stayed down.

  
Wash and Junior was at his side in a second. “Oh my god, Tucker I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I should have shot her sooner. I can’t lose you, hang on babe.”

  
“I’ll be okay, I’m tough, don’t you remember…Ow Ow Ow, take it easy guys.”

  
“Yeah, I can definitely see that.” He smiled affectionately at Tucker.  
“We got to get you to Dr. Grey.”


	16. Chapter 16

 

“All rightee Tucker, you’re patched up and good to go.”

  
“Cool, now I have battle scars. How bad was it?”

  
“Five stitches.”

  
“Is that all? My big heroic scene, my one chance to impress Wash, and that’s all I get?”

  
“You’re lucky, the suit took most of the force of the bullet.”

  
“Well, it sure as hell hurt more than five stitches.”

  
“Tucker, you could have been killed, how macho would you look if you were dead? It’s not like you can afford any more holes in your head.” For the first time, Wash could relax.

  
Tucker laughed at his joke. “Hey, you know that’s why you love me.”

  
Wash blushed and tried to change the subject. “What are we supposed to do with a certain body upstairs. We certainly can’t leave her up there.”

  
“Oww, I can take care of that for you. I can always use another cadaver to experiment on.”

  
Grey was scaring everyone. “Oh dear god, to think that’s the wacko that stitched me up. Guess I did get off easy.”

  
“Go ahead and use the body for whatever you need it for.” Wash shuddered at the thought.

“Tucker, if you’re ready, I say we get out of here.”

  
“Yeah good idea. Let’s all go hang out at the rec room, Junior was playing some video games there while I was getting patched up. I promised I’d join him.”

  
Carolina came running up behind them. “Wash, Tucker, I was hoping I’d catch you two. I finished cleaning out the last of the resistance fighters. And I found this.” She held up the package containing the peace treaty. She handed it to Wash.

  
“Thank goodness you found it. What happened to the fighters?”

  
“Most were willing to surrender. A few were martyrs like Cassandra. They were strongly influenced by Felix’s warped way of thinking, so many of the prisoners may never be able to released, but time will tell.”

  
“That’s fair, at least they have a chance.”

  
“I want to apologize to you Wash. We’ve been through so much together, I’m amazed you’re still alive, but you’re so resilient. I should have trusted you. When you say you’re feeling alright for a job, I won’t second guess it.”

  
“Wow, that’s a big moment coming from you. Thank you, I appreciate that.”

  
“So, since I have medically cleared you for working for me, when you finish delivering the peace treaty, what mission do you want to work on next?”

  
He wasn’t expecting that, he figured he’d never go out on adventures anymore. He didn’t know how to answer. He looked towards Tucker for support.

  
The look on his face said it all. Wash was ditching him. He couldn’t keep the pain from his eyes. Damnit, he’s going to lose Wash, but there’s no way he can tell him not to go.

  
“Why are you looking at me for? Take her offer, dude you’ve been waiting for this forever.”

  
He tried to smile, the smile didn’t meet his eyes. He felt like crying. At least he still had Junior. At least one person still loved him.

  
Wash knew what to do. “Here Carolina, you’re the only one I trust to take these to Kimball. Tucker’s injured, I can’t just leave him.”

  
He moved closer to Tucker and took ahold of his hand. “I’ll let you know about the Freelancer work. Seems like I’m going to be kept busy around here. I like my old job better.”

  
Tucker smiled and squeezed Wash’s hand.

  
“Go ahead and join your son, he’s been waiting to see you for years. I’ll go back to the bunk and try to get some rest.”

  
“Bullshit, you never sleep. C’mon, you’re invited to the gaming fest, I won’t take no for an answer. It’s gonna be like a real family moment. I want ya there hon.”

  
“It’s nice to have a family again. But I totally suck at video games.”

  
“I figured that, this way I’m guaranteed to win.”

 

 


	17. Chapter 17

 

With a deep breath of relief, Simmons shut down the computer. He rearranged everything so no one would know he entered the room after hours.

  
The entire station was only now coming off of lockdown. There’s was so much commotion going on, so much panicking.

He was relieved he was in a soundproof room, he didn’t have to deal with more trauma to add more stress than he already had. It was bad enough having to watch it live.

  
Only then did he think about the baby. “Oh my god, I almost forgot about him. He’s going to be so traumatized. I’ve got to get to him.”

  
He ran in panic all the way to Grif’s hospital room. Grif would be so worried, not knowing if he was alive or dead. He had forgotten his cell phone in Grif’s room. He couldn’t even call him.

  
He flung open the door, expecting Grif to start yelling at him, expecting Grif to be worried, happy, relieved…just anything. What he didn’t expect was that he got nothing.

  
He looked closer. Grif and baby Dex were lying together passed out on the hospital bed. His arms were protectively around the baby, and they were both softly snoring.

  
“Really guys, this is what I come back to?” He shook his head. Why would he be surprised.

  
He went over to tuck the blanket up around the baby. “Thank goodness you weren’t scared. But could either of you show a little bit of concern?”

  
He figured to why fight it. He pulled two chairs up close to bed. He propped his legs up and planned on taking a little nap too. If you can’t beat them, then be lazy like they are too.

  
He reached over and gently held little Dex’s hand, so paranoid that he would wake him up. But no, he slept on.

  
Simmons glanced over at Grif. He had been watching Simmons ever since he first came in the room. He pretended to be asleep to see what he would do. He was proud of the fact that Simmons had gotten more into his habit of being lazy way better than he ever could at being neat.

  
He gave Simmons his evil little grin. He spoke quietly. “Glad to see you made it back loser.”

  
“Yes, this was such a strenuous case, but we managed through it. Now I’m exhausted.”

  
“Wait, weren’t you sitting on your butt behind a computer the whole time?”

  
“Yes, but doing nothing is hard work. I don’t know how you’ve managed it for all these years.”

  
“Yep, but someone’s gotta do it. Well my young padawan, you have officially graduated my laziness course. Congratulations, and welcome to the Dark Side.”

  
Simmons reached his other hand around to hold onto Grif’s. “There’s no other place I’d rather be.”


End file.
